The Fourth Sunday of Lent is Laetare Sunday or the half way point of the season of Lent. Typically, this is a celebration day even though we are in Lent: thinking ahead and anticipating Easter. The Gospel today is about the man who is born blind whom Jesus healed from his darkness to light. This symbolizes that Jesus is the “light of the world”. We are asked to turn from our own darkness, however that manifests itself in our lives, and return to the light of Jesus.
This past Sunday was the fifth Sunday of Lent, or Passion Sunday, and the theme is waiting…from Father John Tapp’s sermon. As he said, ‘waiting stinks’. I like that analogy. Most of us spend an inordinate amount of time waiting, waiting and more waiting…….in lines for shopping, at the gas station, for our children to get their chores done, for special birthdays and anniversaries, to get well, etc. The waiting scenarios are endless. In today’s Gospel, Martha and Mary are waiting for Jesus to show up to help their brother Lazarus. He is sick and then he dies. WHOA….and they are ‘Where are you Jesus’. But the waiting is over and Jesus is literally moved to tears when He experiences Lazarus’s death. Jesus if human and Divine. He felt the emotion of deep loss and through his Divinity from the Father, He raises Lazarus to life.
What we fail to realize and reflect on is that God gives us waiting for a reason…..no not to test our patience. He gives us this time so that He can do what He needs to do to prepare us for what He has next for us, our next task for Him here on earth. He is always at work behind the scenes, so to speak. Waiting is active not passive. Waiting, if we can use it well, can bear much fruit.
So, as we continue our last two weeks of Lent, let us double down on our efforts to pray, fast, and give alms while we wait.
PJP
PURPOSE, JOY AND POSITIVES PJP 